NEXT Biometrics, Innolux partner for mass production of flexible fingerprint sensors

NEXT Biometrics and Innolux, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of TFT-LCD-panels, are investing in establishing mass production capacity for NEXT’s flexible fingerprint sensor technology.

According to a statement by the company, Innolux and NEXT Biometrics have worked together for many years with NEXT manufacturing volumes of rigid fingerprint sensors at Innolux plants in Taiwan. The new partnership will see the companies make joint investments to enable mass production of NEXT’s new flexible fingerprint sensors. NEXT Biometrics has previously communicated a production capacity target of 2 million flexible sensors per month in 2017, growing to 10 million per month in 2018.

NEXT Biometrics` CEO Tore Etholm-Idsøe commented: “We experience major interest in the world´s first smart card industry compatible flexible sensor. The upcoming transition to mass production is not trivial and we are very happy for Innolux active support in this process. They are a $10 billion annual sales TFT-LCD displays manufacturer and are, of course, highly experienced in solving issues when ramping-up for mass production of new product formats. We have made significant progress during the recent months, and we are proud to announce that Innolux will now invest money, time and knowledge along with NEXT Biometrics to bring the flexible sensors to the world market.”

Innolux Vice President James Yang added: “There is a massive opportunity in the market for flexible fingerprint sensors, and we strongly believe in the NEXT Biometrics technology. The company is unique in the sense that they are bringing to market a truly flexible sensor, which meet the smart card industry requirements while it can be mass produced at cost levels that are compatible with smart card market value propositions. We have therefore decided to help bring the project forward as quickly as possible, investing Innolux knowledge as well as capital resources.”